| Argentine Ants | |
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Color: Dark brown to black; shiny |
Argentine ant colonies can grow to monumental size. Their colony borders sometimes cover entire habitats. Argentine ant queens also assist with foraging for food. The ant gives off a musty odor when crushed. Worker argentine ants are about one sixteenth of an inch long. Queen argentine ants are one eighth of an inch to one quarter of an inch long.
Habits : Argentine ants deposit trails continuously, instead of just from nest to food source. This habit ensures they do not waste time visiting the same area for food. They prefer to eat sweets but they will eat almost anything including meats, eggs, oils and fats.
Habitat : Argentine ant colonies are located in wet environments near a food source.
Threats : Argentine ants do not pose a health threat, but they can contaminate food.
Prevention : Eliminate standing water. Pests, such as Argentine ants are attracted to moisture. Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from the house. Sometimes pests use these branches to get into your home. Make sure that there are no cracks or little openings around the bottom of your house. Sometimes pests use these to get into your home. Make sure that firewood and building materials are not stored next to your home. Pests like to build nests in stacks of wood.
| Carpenter Ants | ||
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Color: Varies depending on species, from red to black or a combination. The two most common species are black. |
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Carpenter ants get their name because they excavate wood in order to build their nests. Their excavation results in smooth tunnels inside the wood. Carpenter ants range in size from one-quarter inch for a worker ant to up to three-quarters inch for a queen.
Habits : All species mainly attack wood that is or has been wet and damaged by mold. Even though these ants first invade wet, decayed wood, they may soon begin building paths through dry, undamaged wood. They usually come into buildings through cracks around doors, windows, or through holes for wires. They will also crawl along overhead wires, shrubs, or tree limbs that touch the building far above the ground.
Habitat : Carpenter ants build their nests outdoors in various wood sources, including tree stumps, firewood or landscaping. They need a constant water source to survive. They will enter homes through wet, damaged wood.
Threats : Carpenter ants damage wood through their nest building. If they gain entry to a structure, they pose a property threat.
| Odorous House Ants | ||
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Color: Brown or black. |
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This ant gets its name from the strong, rotten coconut-like smell it gives off when crushed. These tiny insects range in size from one-sixteenth of an inch to one-eighth of an inch long.
Habits : Odorous house ants like to eat sweets, especially melon.
Habitat : Typically living for several years, these ants make their homes in exposed soil and wall cracks.
Threats : These ants do not pose a public health risk, but they can contaminate food and should be avoided.
Prevention : Eliminate standing water. Pests such as odorous house ants are attracted to moisture. Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from the house. Sometimes pests use these branches to get into your home. Make sure that there are no cracks or little openings around the bottom of your house. Sometimes pests use these to get into your home. Make sure that firewood and building materials are not stored next to your home. Pests like to build nests in stacks of wood.
| Pavement Ants | ||
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Color: Dark brown to blackish |
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Pavement ants get their name because they make their nests in or under cracks in pavement. They can infest structures.
Habits : These ants will eat almost anything, including insects, seeds, honeydew, honey, bread, meats, nuts and cheese.
Habitat : These ants live in or under pavement cracks.
Threats :
Prevention : Eliminate standing water. Pests, such as ants, are attracted to moisture. Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from the house. Sometimes pests use these branches to get into your home.* Make sure that there are no cracks or little openings around your house. Sometimes pests use these to get into your home. Make sure that firewood and building materials are not stored next to your home. Pests like to build nests in stacks of wood.
| Red Imported Fire Ants | ||
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Color: Dark reddish brown |
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Red imported fire ants nest in soil and build mound nests. They can infest garages.
Habits : These ants will build large mound nests, and will sting humans who come across a nest.
Habitat : Red imported fire ants will build their nest mounds outdoors in landscape areas or near a structural foundation. The ant will gain entry to a building through holes or cracks.
Threats : The sting of a red imported fire ant is painful and often results in a raised welt that becomes a white pustule. Often, a person stung by a red imported fire ant receives multiple painful stings from more than one of the ants. Persons allergic to insect stings will react more severely.
Prevention : Red imported fire ants and their telltale mound nests should be actively avoided. To prevent entry into a structure, seal all internal and external cracks and crevices.
Help! Ants are invading my house!
The problem is that ants are amazingly tough little critters. They are individually weak, it is easy to kill a single ant, but there is more than one, a lot more. Their strength is the colony, the cooperative way in which they work, their ability to breed thousands of replacements for any lost workers.
Here in desert, ants and other insects are a serious issue. Some people respond by spraying their own store bought insecticides everywhere. You see the exterminator trucks in the neighborhood and the technicians spraying around the foundations every month or two. I refuse to do that, but when my wife starts to complain loudly about ants in the kitchen I have to do something so I did what all my friends recommend I do, I called Rudy’s Termite & Pest Control because they are the best at what they do and they genuinely care about my family and property.
I dislike using toxins in the place I live, and do not like to consider some of the possible effects so once I have spoken with my Rudy’s professional technician, he assures me that it’s not necessary to spray the product all over the place, they apply it where it’s needed and where it will be the most affective for maximum control. He explained that the products they use are EPA approved and come in a variety of formulations depending on the current circumstances. When all is said and done, he has achieved maximum control with as little an impact as possible on the property and exposure to my family and pets.
I have had pretty good success with Rudy’s Termite & Pest Control. The problem is that it seems like it takes a little time for the product to work depending on environmental conditions such as moisture and extreme sunlight. He explained that it’s normal and asked me to have enough patience to allow the product to work. Rudy’s tech applies it where you have trails of ants, they find it and eat it or they simply get it on their feet and bodies and take it back to the nest because ants are highly social insects like bees. It is surprising satisfying to see dozens of tiny ants chewing at the stuff knowing it means their doom. When it does work you just see fewer and fewer ants. At the end there comes a day you notice there were no ants, or in my case a day when I do not get a complaint about ants in the kitchen. I will recommend Rudy’s to anyone with a pest invasion
